Friday, January 11, 2013

"From morn till night may your life be bright,
And misfortune never frown.
May the Sweet Content of each Day well spent
Be yours as the Sun goes down."

This vintage postcard is one of the favorites in my collection. It's F207 on my Vintage Postcard CD. I featured this postcard in a crazy quilt block on August 15, 2008, too. It has a wonderful sentiment.

Print the rectangular block directly onto computer printer fabric with your inkjet printer, then use it as the foundation for your cover with the center image already in place. If you need to make it larger, use this as a center medallion and add strips along the outside to get the size that you need.

To use this foundation pattern, align the edge of your fabric right side down with the dotted line and sew on the straight line. Flip and press toward the dotted line. Stitch two pieces of fabric together (1-1, 1-2 and 2-1, 2-2). Treat as one piece of fabric for 1 and 2. Stitch three pieces of fabric together (3-1, 3-2 then add 3-3 and 4-1, 4-2 then add 4-3). Treat as one piece of fabric for 3 and 4.

Piece the block, then embellish it with threads, trims, ribbons and beads. When embellishing with heavy materials or threads, try to keep them within the first rectangle to make it easier to sew the cover together. This block is slightly larger that the finished size to allow for seam allowances and for shrinkage when stitching. Make sure that the piece is large enough for your template--this is designed for the 6" x 9" template--before you cut off the excess fabric.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

If you love books and are in the Phoenix, AZ area in February, the 57th Annual VNSA Used Book Sale is NOT to be missed! There are hundreds of thousands of books at the sale--there's sure to be something you want.

My mother, Eilene Luffy, has been a member of this volunteer organization for many years. All of the members work for an entire year to sort and categorize and price the books to sell in just one weekend. The money is donated to several charities that VNSA supports. It's a wonderful endeavor for a worthy cause.

Stop by the Arizona State Fairgrounds Exhibit Building on February 16th and 17th, 2013. For more information, visit the VNSA website.